So I called my old pal Vardha a couple of weeks ago and asked if he would accompany me for some explorations in his part of town. He was most willing and we scheduled to meet at the Victoria Memorial Home which was the erstwhile Saroornagar Palace at 6 am. Vardha was there by the time I reached the place. There were many bikes and cars parked - Vardha told me that it was a popular place for morning walkers.
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| Victoria Memorial Home aka Saroornagar Palace |
We walked into a large area, apparently 70 acres of it, full of old trees, reasonably decent maintenance. Originally built as a hunting lodge for the 6th Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, the Saroornagar Palace was completed in 1903.
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| A closer look |
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| Check out the boys at the gates |
However it was never occupied as the Nizam fell ill after he visited the palace which was under construction and being a superstitious person, he abandoned all plans of using it. In fact quite a few great structures in the city - Saifabad Palace for one, Irrum Numa another - seem to have been abandoned on such superstitions. The palace lay deserted until 1904 when Queen Victoria passed away and the British Resident asked the Nizam to dedicate an institute in her memory. The Nizam converted the empty palace into the Victoria Memorial Orphanage (which was changed to Home on Nehru's suggestion) and so it has been since.
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| The reception area with a portrait of the 6th Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan |
We walked in and tried to go around it to the right when the sharp whistle of a security man stopped us - he told us that all the action was to the left and there was nothing to the right except quarters and hostels for the girls. We retraced our steps and walked towards the front of the building through trees and paths, past people exercising, chatting with one another post exercises, doing yoga, cycling etc - until we came to the front of the building.
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| Inner courtyard - boy's hostels perhaps |
It's a huge, imposing palace, two storied, a mosque to its left, a large ground in front of it for children to play all sorts of games - football to cricket to athletics etc. Many young athletes were training and many older people walking the fringe of the ground. The palace was an awesome sight and I was glad that the move to convert part of the palace grounds into some government department a few years ago was foiled and it was left alone. There were boys from the home looking out from behind closed shutters and in time it opened,
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| Notice board |
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| Library |
Vardha said we could try to walk in and see the inside. I followed him and we walked in much to the amusement of the young kids who were studying in the high ceilinged halls. There was a hall right up there with a photo pf the 6th Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, the reception area, a library to the right. As we walked in we found a huge hall where the boys were studying, doing their school work. To the left were huge halls that seemed to serve as dormitories. We walked past it into the back yard where there was an open courtyard with a building behind it, classrooms on top and all around.
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| Balconies |
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| View from the entrance we came in from |
By this time the two male teachers in charge who were following us grew suspicious enough and came up and asked us not to take pictures without getting permission from the Principal. I asked them who they were and they said they were the Vice Principal and a teacher. We got chatting and the VP told me there were 900 kids, almost all of them passed the SSC, there were girls as well as boys and they were fully taken care of. I saw a board with the curriculum written on it in neat handwriting and showed it to Vardha - neat handwriting, no spelling mistakes (I know of Post Graduates who cannot write a single sentence without spelling mistakes). It did seem that the school was in good, caring hands and I told the VP that I would be happy to come and do a motivational session for the senior kids when school restarts. He was quite happy at the idea.
It felt good to be there, to see good work. I asked a kid who the picture on the wall was and he said 'raju'. I wondered if the kids even realised what kind of a luxury they were living in - the palatial building, the huge open grounds, trees - things that the best of schools do not have these days.
We headed out of the palace. Put to good use and well preserved. Glad. I will come back here again for a session in June/July.
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Not far from the palace Vardha took me to an interesting place - The Greater Hyderabad Shelter for the Homeless. It was an interesting building - round shaped, in the middle of the centre. Homeless people come and sleep at night apparently. Two cannons were placed on either side. Wonder what the story about the building is.
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| The Shelter for the Homeless - a red cannon pointing at us |
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| The cannon at the back side |
Chakali Ilamma is a legendary figure, a revolutionary who participated in the Telangana Armed rebellion (1940-1947) and revolted against the Telangana landlord Ramachandra Reddy known as Visnoor Deshmukh and took back control of her lands. She was politically active and was part of the Communist Party and the Andhra Mahasabha. The Women's College in Koti (previously the British Resident's house) is named Veernari Chakali Ilamma University for Women after her. Certainly one can take a leaf or two from her book.
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